Back when I had time to kill, and babies were things only other people had, I discovered an art term that had me at “hello”: Papercraft. It’s like origami but without all the rules; you can cut, tape and glue all day long. Similar to origami, the models come in a range of difficulties of which you can lose your mind on a step or two. There are tons of papercraft models you can buy on the internet to print and assemble. If buying art on the internet is your thing…well… have you seen my shop? If freebies are more your style there’re a plethora of free papercraft models as well… and… have you seen my shop?

Those of you familiar with Papercraft may know it as Pepakura or “Pep” for short. If you REALLY are familiar with it, then chances are good you live in Japan and Europe. Here in the US, I’m the only one I know who’s even heard of papercraft.

This is the first papercraft model I started and as you can see it’s still not finished. It’s was free and can be downloaded HERE – Lens Head. Although the page is in Japanese you should be able to see the 6 different “Rens Head” PDF pages you can download and print, plus the instructions.

Lens Head, is a pretty advanced pattern though. I thought this Wall-E model below came out great considering how simple it’s geometry is.

Besides all the models available there’s also software that can be used to create your own papercraft models. Pepakura Designer was one of the first I became aware of. The idea is to first create a 3D model in the computer, and then the Pepakura software “unfolds” it into printable sections.

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Elsewhere, in the wild world of Solfar art I’d like to thank Henry for purchasing one of my Dino Dragon Zippo lighter cases on Etsy. Maybe it’s just chance, but Henry is the 2nd Australian to buy one of my pieces lately. You know, I’ve always liked Australia… it’s nice to know the feeling is mutual.

There are still a few more available on Etsy.com but the turquoise one depicted is gone.